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00:00:30.000if you know me you know who i am you know that i'm not a hateful person i have experienced
00:00:35.440competing against a biological male more than once i think i just rely on people who actually
00:00:40.400matter my actual close friends and my family to just keep me going you know the two girls who
00:00:47.200broke the internet last week at the seattle storm versus the indiana fever game yeah the two girls
00:00:52.400who got cussed out by the seattle storms co-owner who is now facing a five-game suspension uh well
00:00:59.440One of them is breaking her silence. Check it out here.
00:01:07.060Yeah, it's definitely been overwhelming. I mean, I woke up the day after the incident happened at the basketball game and I was on Instagram and everything that popped up was co-owners Seattle Storm gets suspended or girls berated at basketball game, all this stuff.
00:01:26.700when I was like, holy crap, like, this is, this is big. And it's definitely been kind of stressful.
00:01:33.100I mean, there's definitely been a lot of, you know, hate and not so good things. But there's
00:01:37.580also been a lot of really cool things like being shouted out by Sophie Cunningham. That was that
00:01:42.940was pretty awesome. Yeah, I want to get to that because I saw online where she said we have
00:01:48.700something coming your way. So I want to get an update in a minute. But as I said, well, as everyone
00:01:53.680really now knows. You're right. It's been all over the news, all over the headlines. You're
00:01:58.34016 years old. You're from the state of Washington. Can you give a little background on what first
00:02:03.400drew you into the issue of men and women's sports and why you felt inclined to be there with a sign
00:02:08.360saying, you know, thank you, Sophie, for standing up for girls? Yeah. So in eighth grade, I think
00:02:14.620it was May 2024, I was running the 1600 and I had won every race up until then. And we were lining
00:02:25.000up. We finished our race. I placed second and I went to stand on the podium and I saw a lot of
00:02:31.000people down below kind of angry. And as I got off the podium, I was later informed that the person
00:02:38.060who had won was actually a biological male. So I kind of got thrown into this whole thing
00:02:45.100unknowingly. After that, I've competed against four other biological males. I'm going to junior
00:02:50.700year now. So I'm still speaking out about this and I'm trying to make people informed and just,
00:02:57.980you know, care about this issue. So going back to that first time you learned you competed against
00:03:03.540a man or a boy, I guess in this case, what were some of the feelings that you felt?
00:03:09.980Was it like anger? Was it frustration? Did you feel like a sense of heartbreak?
00:03:14.920Take us back to that moment when you realized this was a boy.
00:03:18.920Yeah. So I think originally, like initially, I guess when I first found out,
00:03:23.840I was just a little kind of confused and shocked because I had heard about this happening in other
00:03:27.780parts of the country. But I live in such a small town that I like would never expect it to
00:03:33.500happen here like it wasn't something that I ever had thought about or it was ever like worrying
00:03:37.740about um so for it to happen all of a sudden it was like definitely like whoa like what is going
00:03:44.900on um and then after kind of like taking it in it was just like like again like you said kind of
00:03:51.580heartbreaking like all this work that I'd put in kind of meant nothing especially since the people
00:03:56.360on the other the trans kids side were like you just need to like shut up and be quiet because
00:04:02.000some of my friends were making comments like this isn't fair and they were like you can go somewhere
00:04:06.120else like if you're going to complain when you spoke up then again this was what two or three
00:04:11.860years ago now um obviously it was a i think there's a level of cover in the year 2026 that
00:04:18.480we didn't necessarily have in 2023 or 2024 right like um it feels like because it was it's just a
00:04:25.080totally different political social cultural climate that we were living in so when you began to speak
00:04:30.700out then, what was some of the response that you saw from, let's say, peers or teammates or friends
00:04:36.940or maybe even teachers at school from legislators in your home state? What was that response like
00:04:43.620for you? Yeah. So luckily where I live, I've gotten a lot of mostly good feedback and a lot
00:04:51.380of positive responses to when I first spoke up. A lot of my friends agreed with me. A lot of my
00:04:57.520friends were at that track meet and they were also confused and frustrated. I mean, I've had a few
00:05:02.740people not necessarily in person come up to me and, you know, be rude and stuff. But I've had
00:05:09.120people in my hometown, you know, be rude online or make comments or kind of glare at me. But other
00:05:17.660than that, you know, school teachers come up to me. They won't do it, obviously, in front of a lot
00:05:22.260of people. But in private, I've had quite a few school teachers and school admin come to me and
00:05:27.340tell me that they support me and they were proud of me. So I've had a pretty good response from
00:05:32.520where I am at. That's so good. And it, it, it is, it's, it draws the bigger point that I think
00:05:39.420we're conditioned to believe that once you speak out, it's all of these horrible things will
00:05:43.600happen. But as you said, I mean, you've actually gained friends throughout this process and you
00:05:48.740see the support, um, which it's unfortunate a lot of time is in private or like through direct
00:05:54.640message or like in winks or whispers or behind closed doors. But nonetheless, it proves the
00:06:00.940point that we have been the silent majority for far too long. And people like you are inspiring
00:06:05.840more and more people to use their voice. And I mean, you said you've competed against four
00:06:11.700other males, four other boys since then. What would your response be when people say like,
00:06:16.900look, this isn't really happening. It's a non-issue. I mean, you're kind of proof that
00:06:22.320that's not the case yeah so i actually see right now especially a lot of stuff on instagram like
00:06:29.420why are we even worried about this like this isn't happening it's like one in like i don't know 50 or
00:06:35.180100 people that this happens to like this isn't common and it just frustrates me when i see those
00:06:41.260things online on social media because they obviously haven't experienced this like me for me
00:06:47.080it's been several people now that I've competed against that are biological males and I'm just
00:06:52.520one girl and these are big races cross-country races track meets so there's lots of other girls
00:06:57.760that are also experiencing this so when I hear that it just it helps me realize that these people
00:07:03.260don't even know half the time what they're talking about but ultimately this led you to
00:07:07.800the fever versus the Seattle storm basketball game before you even went into the game like
00:07:13.700you're you're let's say you're standing outside of the arena were you getting lots of weird looks
00:07:18.980what was what was the reception um I would say for some of the other you know rallies that I've
00:07:26.280been to this one was going pretty well it was pretty positive we had a few other people from
00:07:31.840like no hate Washington with no hate in Washington signs and then we had this one guy that's been at
00:07:37.200almost every other rally that I've been to he had some sign that said like Jimothy says shut up which
00:07:43.280i love jimothy but and i told him that i'm like oh i love jimothy and he was like oh okay but
00:07:50.300other than that um we had a lot of people coming out to us that were going to the game um get
00:07:54.800pictures with like the blow up sophie and you know a lot of people like thumbs up being us we did have
00:07:59.760people flip us off but other than that it was pretty good we didn't have anyone come to us like
00:08:04.420super angry um we had a lot of good good feedback how did you decide this was something that you
00:08:10.500wanted to do by the way like go to this game was it I mean pretty like explicitly because of
00:08:17.340Sophie and her presence there yeah so I mean I love watching sports I love sports um and my mom
00:08:25.900is a big fan of Sophie Cunningham and also Caitlin Clark is on the Indiana Fever and she's awesome
00:08:30.760so my mom had originally gotten tickets and then we ended up me and my friend getting courtside
00:08:37.060tickets. So we were freaking out. So, um, when we had also heard Sophie was going to be there,
00:08:42.700we were super excited because she had, again, just recently spoken up for girls. So we knew
00:08:46.760like, Oh, this is going to be a good game. Like we were so excited. Um, and we knew we had to
00:08:51.960support her. When you saw Sophie speak up for the first time, what were some of the feelings again
00:08:58.340that you had? Because as I understood it, um, I mean, this was like the first current professional
00:09:04.860female athlete who took the stand that she did which is the same stand that you have taken that
00:09:10.980I've taken that that so many of us have now but with it has come a lot of backlash like when you
00:09:16.540saw her do that how did you feel um it definitely gives me hope because I feel like again you said
00:09:24.860it's like one of the first professional female athlete celebrities to speak up I mean it just
00:09:30.200shows that people are paying attention to this issue um and it makes me happy that she not only
00:09:35.840did she speak up but she like continued to stand with what she said i was happy that she not only
00:09:42.600did she stand up but even though she got that hate hate and that backlash she continued to stand
00:09:47.900with what she originally said because i feel like some people will say something and then they'll
00:09:52.760get that backlash and they'll kind of back down or cowered back but she didn't she again she said
00:09:58.420what she said. It's so true. Um, I feel like people like Sophie Cunningham and even like
00:10:03.820Sydney Sweeney, if you can recall, they say what they have to say and they stand by it.
00:10:09.020And when you do that, you don't really, you, you become uncancellable, right? When you don't let
00:10:14.940the other side cancel you. I mean, it's as simple as that. You, you can't be canceled. And I think
00:10:19.980Sophie Cunningham is really, um, perfect proof of this. So you go into the game and your sack
00:10:26.860court side. Again, it's got to be so cool. You're up close and personal with these players that
00:10:31.740otherwise you kind of just watch on your TV screen. Um, talk about the people that you were
00:10:36.480sat next to, because we've seen the pictures online where you have your sign again, that says,
00:10:41.800thank you, Sophie, for standing up for girls. And then there's some people next to you that
00:10:45.640have a sign. Talk about that. Yeah. So when we first came in to sit down, um, the lady to the
00:10:53.520left of where we were sitting facing the court she was super nice and stuff it was kind of after
00:10:58.300we had pulled out our signs that the people sitting on both sides of us were like oh um
00:11:03.740but recently our company softball team lost the big game by one run then dale tried to console
00:11:12.300us with the quote winning isn't everything well dale and i are very different i get early payout
00:11:47.920were all women sitting on the sides of us. Um, but yeah, they were just making little comments
00:11:52.960like your shirts are stupid. I heard, um, Sophie's not actually standing up for girls. You're just
00:11:58.760doing this because your parents told you to like things like that. And you're kind of just ignoring
00:12:02.040them. It's amazing to me when you have someone who has a sign that says, you know, no hate in
00:12:08.220Washington or whatever their sign said, implying that, you know, they don't exude hatred or, um,
00:12:14.740anything other than kindness and being welcoming and accepting and embracing diversity while they
00:12:20.100don't embrace diverse thought. Um, I tend to think that the people who, you know, have the signs out
00:12:26.360in front of their yards at their homes or who stand with, with signs like that, that say no
00:12:31.220hate, generally speaking, they tend to be the most hateful people. At what point did the co-owner
00:12:38.080of the Seattle Storm, Celeste Keaton, approach you and your friend?
00:12:44.180Yeah, so it was halftime. And me and my friend were still freaking out. I mean, Caitlin Clark
00:12:51.220was like less than a foot away from us several times when she was throwing in the ball. She
00:12:55.840almost like tripped over my foot. So we were freaking out the whole time, you know, cheering
00:12:59.620for both teams. We were super excited, happy to be there, support Sophie and just, you know,
00:13:05.000see these women play basketball at such a high level so we were freaking out and we were just
00:13:11.020talking to each other and this older woman is talking to the people to the right of us and
00:13:17.640she hasn't said anything to us and then she turns and looks at me and my friend and she's like Jesus
00:13:22.360loves everyone like Jesus loves you and we're like okay like at first it seemed like it was
00:13:27.080going to be a friendly interaction and then it turned like immediately she was like for you guys
00:13:32.180come here and pull this, you know, is crazy and da da da. And you're effing insane, like going
00:13:38.320like this with their finger to her head. And we were just like sitting there like, what is going
00:13:43.080on? And again, there's women sitting all around us and they're just watching this happen.
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00:15:52.200code Riley Gaines at cowboyclassroom.com slash Riley Gaines. When this happened, I mean,
00:16:01.140I think my initial response, again, it's hard to put myself in your shoes. And I say this as a
00:16:06.300grown adult, nevermind the fact that you guys are 16 years old and in high school, like it really is
00:16:13.120unimaginable to me. Were you like bewildered at the fact that first and foremost, this was a woman
00:16:18.980who was saying this to you? Like, is that something you've kind of noticed to be a common
00:16:23.920theme in all of this? That oftentimes it feels like our biggest hurdle in achieving equality as
00:16:30.220women are other women. It was pretty disappointing. Yeah. I think to say the least, but then how did
00:16:37.060you learn that she was the co-owner of the team so after she had walked away and we realized that
00:16:44.080she had actually been sitting right across the court from us we hadn't noticed her until after
00:16:48.400we found where she was um but security had come up to us because i was i was crying and my friend
00:16:54.420sitting next to me was just kind of in shock like what is going on like what just happened to us
00:16:58.560and so the security is like that's bs no one should ever tell you or be rude to you because
00:17:03.300of your opinion. And I was like, thank you. Um, and security is like, if you can point her out,
00:17:07.920we'll go talk to her. So we find her. And that's when we learn that she is the co-owner. She is,
00:17:15.540security doesn't do anything. Wow. Yeah. I guess that's what friends in high places get you.
00:17:24.580Um, what about following this? Um, I mean, you, you alluded to the next day on Instagram,
00:17:30.140seeing where she has now, is now facing a five home game suspension. How does that make you feel?
00:17:37.440I mean, it can't, I guess, make the situation any better from y'alls. And again, and at least
00:17:42.480the people who watch this interaction online and who have heard your account and has seen the
00:17:47.980pretty weak apology from the team, it feels like irreparable damage has been done on their end.
00:17:55.940But do you feel like that's an appropriate measure of, I guess, discipline or punishment for for Celeste Keaton?
00:18:04.880Yeah. So, I mean, me and my family and my friend, we're definitely happy to see that the WNBA took such a quick, you know, response to it, I guess.
00:18:15.780And, you know, actually did something because if I'm going to be honest, we didn't think anything was going to be done because she was so high up there.
00:18:22.520I mean, she's a co-owner. We didn't think anything would be done.
00:18:25.340And so, I mean, it was it was nice to see that they did something, but her apology wasn't even from her.
00:18:32.480It was from one of the people, one of the other owners apologizing on her behalf.
00:18:37.440So I think it would have been a lot nicer for her to personally apologize.
00:18:41.980I would have liked that better because, you know, if you make a mistake, you should be the one apologizing for it.
00:18:47.800I have her apology here. I'll read it.
00:18:50.540The store majority owner, her name is Jenny Gilder, said this.
00:18:54.680we are aware one of our co-owners made comments to two fans in attendance at last night's game
00:18:58.920we apologize that this happened everyone who attends a storm game deserves to feel welcome
00:19:03.160and we remain committed to creating an inclusive environment where every fan is treated with
00:19:07.640respect terms and conditions may apply um so yeah that that to me seems like a pretty
00:19:14.020a pretty weak apology and again it's not even from her have you received any response from
00:19:20.040anyone affiliated with seattle storm since no nothing wow yeah so me and my friend were sitting
00:19:29.640courtside and then brandy and a few other girls that have been speaking up for women's sports
00:19:34.680were sitting near the basket those girls also had a bunch of stuff happen to them um some ladies
00:19:41.440tried to trip them and again the video um this grown man heckling them being rude um just because
00:19:48.020of their opinion because they had signs about Sophie and people were giving them a hard time
00:19:52.000the whole game. You had these pro-woman supporters and this grown man who's talking to security and
00:19:56.840says, hey, security, take out the trash, referring to the pro-woman crew is just absolutely insane.
00:20:04.060I think when grown adults feel emboldened to pick on teenage girls or people they just disagree with
00:20:10.440in general, something is seriously wrong with society. You do this with like a happy-go-lucky
00:20:17.200attitude and a smile on your face. How are you able to do that? Recently, our company softball
00:20:23.320team lost the big game by one run. Then Dale tried to console us with the quote, winning isn't
00:20:29.120everything. Well, Dale and I are very different. I get early payout from Bet365. If my team goes
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00:20:42.960Bet365. Must be 19 or older, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or
00:20:47.020concerns about your gambling or the gambling of someone close to you please go to connexontario.ca
00:20:50.220tnc supply well i mean i definitely think this has been the biggest um thing that's happened to
00:20:58.380me so far so it's definitely been i would say the most overwhelming and you know scrolling on
00:21:03.260instagram there's a lot of good posts and comments and stuff and supporters but then i'll go to
00:21:08.600another post and it'll be something like anti-trans or transphobic and it is disheartening
00:21:14.200Because if you know me, you know that I'm not anti-trans, like I'm not transphobic.
00:21:20.720I'm friends with, you know, a lot of different people that have a lot of different opinions than me.
00:21:25.620And I'm OK with that. So honestly, I think what's helped me the most through this specific process is just like if you know me, you know who I am.
00:21:35.340You know that I'm not a hateful person and you know that I love people and I'm an empathetic person.
00:21:41.660So honestly, when I just see those dumb comments about how I'm this or I'm that,
00:21:46.500or I just don't know what I'm talking about, or it's my parents' beliefs,
00:21:50.640I just remember that I have experienced competing against a biological male more than once.
00:21:57.720And if you know me, you know that I am not a hateful person.
00:22:00.580So I think I just rely on people who actually matter,
00:22:04.680my actual close friends and my family to just keep me going.
00:22:08.200What about legislators in the state of Washington? Obviously, this is a blue state where cultural issues like this often just get kind of dismissed as, again, they use any excuse. It's not really happening. It's just middle school girls basketball. Who really cares?
00:22:30.220have you had productive conversations with let's say the governor of Washington
00:22:36.680maybe the attorney general any democrat elected officials yeah so superintendent Chris Reichdahl
00:22:44.540I had a meeting with him on actually April's fools which is kind of ironic ironic
00:22:51.060I wouldn't say it was super productive I mean he just kept going back every time we'd ask him
00:22:58.200question to, well, I only do what the law says I can do. Well, if the law changes, then I can do
00:23:04.280that. But the law hasn't changed. So he wouldn't actually answer the question. He had his lawyer
00:23:08.500there with him answer harder questions for him. So he wouldn't mess up and say something that he
00:23:13.320shouldn't have said. So I wouldn't say it was very productive. I mean, I don't think he really
00:23:17.720was interested much. What are some of like your long term goals there? Because I feel like so
00:23:22.820often when we have this conversation, it centers and revolves around the boy and they take away
00:23:28.380the attention from deserving girls. I just had my sophomore season of track end. And right now
00:23:35.900I'm doing summer training for cross country and hopefully this cross country season will go well.
00:23:42.260I'm hoping to get a new PR. Junior year is kind of the most important year for college recruitment.
00:23:48.640I would say. It's kind of when they like decide when they're looking at you. So I'm hoping that
00:23:54.020if I do well enough in cross country and track and get the PRs that I'm hoping for, maybe I'll
00:23:59.440be able to get recruited by a college somewhere. I'm not really sure where, but I do know that I
00:24:04.320want to run for a college if that's a possibility for me. I love running. It's fun. It's a passion
00:24:11.220of mine. I mean, it's definitely hard and there are days when I'm like, why do I like running
00:24:15.560miles again, but I mean, it's rewarding. So hopefully I can go to college and run somewhere
00:24:21.960and hopefully these upcoming junior seasons, cross country and track go well.
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00:25:44.140Riley from the Riley Gaines show sent you yeah it's a grind let's say a school recruits you
00:25:52.140maybe it's in a blue state and they would have no problem with allowing a boy onto the team
00:25:58.920would that ultimately influence where you pursue your athletic career beyond high school
00:26:06.200yeah i mean i haven't totally thought about that necessarily but i mean i i mean i i don't even
00:26:16.480know if they would recruit me because i'm sure a lot of people have seen my story so if they're
00:26:22.980recruiting biological males to be on the women's cross country or track team i don't even know if
00:26:29.420they'd really want me because that would probably just you know cause an issue but i guess we'll see
00:26:34.720well i think you're a heroine um i just want to read you one more post that i saw
00:26:40.780actually it was from jk rowling which um it's got to be so cool when you see people like her
00:26:47.500uh comment on you and your bravery she says to the picture it's a picture of you and your friend
00:26:52.400and the sign that you guys are holding she says these young women are heroines they're peacefully
00:26:57.200protesting against the grotesque unfairness of men playing in women's sports the only people
00:27:02.160who are effing insane here are those making a mockery of fair sport for women and trying to
00:27:06.760bully girls like this into silence. So just know you have so much support and so many people behind
00:27:14.080you, even on the days where it doesn't feel like it, even let's say a few weeks down the road,
00:27:18.580maybe this is out of the news cycle by then and you get focused on the negativity. There are so
00:27:24.400many people who are so grateful for you, who you inspire. And I'm one of those people. You inspire
00:27:29.660me so thank you for everything um and as always if there's anything that i can do i'm there to
00:27:35.660i'm there so thank you thank you guys for watching the riley gain show you can subscribe
00:27:43.040right here we have new episodes every single tuesday and friday at 10 a.m eastern time and
00:27:48.200we are covering everything from pop culture to politics to deep dives to motherhood and sports
00:27:53.060all of that and more we want to hear from you though what is it that you want to hear comment
00:27:56.700down below. We can't wait to see you next time.
00:28:09.100Recently, our company's softball team lost the big game by one run. Then Dale tried to console
00:28:14.900us with the quote, winning isn't everything. Well, Dale and I are very different. I get early